The Internet is the most-widely recognizable global computer network in existence. The computers of the Internet are linked via globally unique address space called Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Since its explosion in the early 1990s, the Internet has enhanced the prosperity of businesses related to everything from gaming to music to retail sales. In fact, as more and more people have gained access to the Internet and have learned to effectively navigate the Internet, Internet sales have continued to increase at an incredible rate. One extremely successful online business venture has been the advent of the online auction.
For their part, online auctions have reduced auctioneer fraud and collusion between a live auctioneer and live bidders. In addition, online auctions are limitless in their scope. Because of their ease of use, online auctions attract millions of sellers and buyers each and every day for the sole purpose of auctioning off and buying goods. Clearly, live auctions of such a scale are not realistic where bidders must be physically present.
Traditionally, live auctions utilize a format whereby items put up for bid are placed on an auction sale list. Thereafter, the listed items are auctioned consecutively at a preestablished date and time. When the live auction begins, one listed item at a time is auctioned off until no items remain. The auction on individual items ends when no further bids are submitted.
In contrast, typical online auctions allow for multiple items to be auctioned simultaneously. The start and finish time for the online auction items is independent from the other items being auctioned. Additionally, online auctions end at a preestablished time rather than when no further bids are submitted.
Even though the recognized auction websites are very successful, the current online auction format is slow, cumbersome and frequently inefficient in garnering a maximum sales price for the items being auctioned. By way of one example, typical online auctions allow sellers to auction items for a preestablished duration of time (e.g. 5 days). When bidders go online to access and view a particular item of interest, they are provided a record of the time remaining until the auction ends. As people bid for a particular item, they can only hope that another bidder does not bid so close to the end of the auction that it is then impossible for the original bidder to place another bid. Of course, under the existing online auction format such intentional late bidding is a frequent and planned occurrence. Moreover, this online auction format does not encourage any true bidding “frenzy” until the last few minutes of the auction. Unfortunately, for sellers this online auction format does not always result in a bidding environment that allows the seller to maximize the sales price of their item up for auction. In otherwords, just as the bidding “frenzy” has started, the bidding is routinely terminated according to the preestablished time set for the auction's expiration.
Therefore, there is a need for an online auction system that provides sellers with a legitimate opportunity to maximize returns, while retaining the inherent benefits for both sellers and buyers of conventional online auction systems.